If food is the way to a person's heart, then about 400 area residents are pretty happy after attending the Evergreen Area Chamber of Commerce's Taste of Evergreen.

The event on Oct. 5 at the Evergreen Lake House had an array of area restaurants providing samples of their finest hors d'oeuvres, desserts, sandwiches, drinks and more. Attendees lined up early to mingle outside and to listen to music by Somebody's Brother before going inside to find the food and drinks that awaited them.

Among those represented were Blackbird Café, the King Soopers deli, Daddy's Homemade, Parkside Café, Kiki's Bowls, Muddy Buck, Passanante's Home Food Services and Trusan Cuisines.

Outside, Slife's Devil Dogs, Campfire Evergreen, Cactus Jack's, Beau Jo's and Lariat Lodge were among the restaurants serving up food and drinks.

And those were just the competitors in the One-Bite Challenge.

Bivouac Coffee, Espresso Evergreen and the Muddy Buck competed in the Java Jolt Challenge, and Kiki's Fresh Bowls, Lariat Lodge, Lucky Charm Mobile Bar, Maya's Cantina and Piney Wine & Spirits competed in the One-Sip Challenge.

“We had great representation of local eateries, bars and coffee shops,” said Nancy Judge, Evergreen Area Chamber of Commerce president. “I think they enjoyed meeting so many of our community members. We were able to promote our local businesses to our community and beyond.”

Courtney Thorud, the Evergreen chamber's special events and projects manager, thanked the businesses for participating, noting that after such a difficult pandemic year, the chamber appreciated them participating in the event. She was happy the chamber could move the event to a weeknight to make it easier of restaurants to take part.

Representatives from the participating businesses said it was fun to be involved in the community event.

Jared Leonard, owner of Campfire Evergreen, stoked the fire of his mobile oven as he prepared to make wood-fired pizzas.

“Evergreen doesn't have a lot of community events,” he said, “but the ones they do have are fun, and people are excited to be here.”

Matt Shray, assistant manager of King Soopers, called Taste of Evergreen a way to show off what the grocery store's deli has to offer. He stood behind a table filled with trays of sandwiches.

Whitney Carloss and Mackenzie Tarran with Parkside Café in Bergen Park, who were putting the finishing touches on beignets with raspberry sauce, agreed that they loved what the Evergreen chamber does, so they jumped at the chance to be part of Taste of Evergreen.

Carloss was happy that the chamber could offer such an event, especially after it was canceled last year due to COVID-19.

“We're trying to help out,” she added, “and make an impact on Evergreen.”

Trusan Comstock of Evergreen, a chef turned caterer, said he liked to participate in community events such as Taste of Evergreen to get exposure for his business. Comstock, who Evergreen old-timers might know because he was a chef at Kilgore Trout's and the Wolf House, said he liked to teach, cook and eat.

Terry Varyu, owner of Blackbird Café, who was putting tomatillo sauce on her chorizo brunch bites, said she was sad the event was canceled last year.

“When I heard it was happening this year, I said, `Let's do it.'”